The Dealmaster’s monitor blowout continues

Top deal is a panoramic 29-inch Dell Ultrasharp U2913MW for $494!

Greetings, Arsians! If the stats on the last few Dealmaster posts are any indications, you guys really like buying monitors. So to tempt anyone who's still holding out, our parters at Logicbuy have done some digging and produced even more monitor deals, including our top deal of the week: a 29-inch panoramic 2560x1080 Ultrasharp U2913MW for only $494.

However, if you've already got all the screen real estate you need (a situation I don't think it's possible to ever be in!), there are plenty of other deals this week, including a 256GB Crucial M4 for $192.99 and free shipping. Take a peek!

Liking the resolution on the U2711, but I despise the design of the monitor. Too chunky, hate the buttons, the connector placement is poor, really hate how thick it is (I'd honestly rather have a power brick if that's the thinnest they can make it).

I guess that may be due to staring at essentially the same boxy mess for 10 years @ work.

Anyone know if that panel is available in another brand's monitor that isn't Apple or Dell?

Liking the resolution on the U2711, but I despise the design of the monitor. Too chunky, hate the buttons, the connector placement is poor, really hate how thick it is (I'd honestly rather have a power brick if that's the thinnest they can make it).

I guess that may be due to staring at essentially the same boxy mess for 10 years @ work.

Anyone know if that panel is available in another brand's monitor that isn't Apple or Dell?

The only other name brand monitor I know of with it is the HP ZR2740W.

There are several budget monitors with the panel though, for about half the price of the Dell/HP models:Auria EQ276WMonoprice IPS-ZERO-G SlimNixeus NX-VUE27Various Korean models that can be imported via eBay

I've got the Auria, and it shares all the problems you have with the U2711 other than thickness. Also it has an external power brick which gets somewhat worringly hot. So probably not what you're looking for.

2560x1080 is 21:9 which is the native format for cinema. When you watch that bluray movie on your 55" and you see black bars at the bottom this means it's a 21:9 formatted movie and being cropped to fit the 1920x1080 resolution.

For gaming a 27" monitor is nearly 3" narrower (according to Slickdeals posting, which based on my personal experience, seems legit) and has more pixels to push so you are going to need a better video card to use the same level of detail, etc.

If you are concerned about pixel density, the 27" is your guy.

For a big, reasonably dense screen for gaming, the 29" makes a lot of sense. I am trusting there is a reason that this is a theatrical format. Having just finished a play through of Bioshock Infinite on this guy, the immersion is fantastic.

All LCDs lag "horribly". Go back to a CRT if you want an actual difference in input latency.

The U2913WM featured in the article has an input lag (in game mode) of around 18 ms, which is decent for gaming (my hp ZR2440W comes out at 20 ms, and I have no issue playing games on my PC, although I don't play many twitch shooters). The extra FOV might be interesting in shooters (to get more situational awareness) or driving games, if the games in question have configurable/moddable/hackable FOV.

Loving my 16:10s for work, but 21:9 would be awesome for media playback and some types of games.

The U2913WM featured in the article has an input lag (in game mode) of around 18 ms, which is decent for gaming (my hp ZR2440W comes out at 20 ms, and I have no issue playing games on my PC, although I don't play many twitch shooters). The extra FOV might be interesting in shooters (to get more situational awareness) or driving games, if the games in question have configurable/moddable/hackable FOV.

Loving my 16:10s for work, but 21:9 would be awesome for media playback and some types of games.

Nice, thank you for posting those links. I used that site when I was deciding about this monitor but was frustrated when I couldn't find the site again just now...

Liking the resolution on the U2711, but I despise the design of the monitor. Too chunky, hate the buttons, the connector placement is poor, really hate how thick it is (I'd honestly rather have a power brick if that's the thinnest they can make it).

I guess that may be due to staring at essentially the same boxy mess for 10 years @ work.

Anyone know if that panel is available in another brand's monitor that isn't Apple or Dell?

What's the opinion on that Toshiba laptop? I'm thinking real hard about desktop replacement. Doesn't need to be seriously portable, more like I can use it on the couch or dining room table, then set it aside at dinner time.

I currently have a Sandy Bridge i5 and a Radeon 6850, and I'm relatively satisfied with the performance, this thing seems like it would be at least comparable if not a fair step up?

How's the quality on these? I haven't used a Toshiba laptop for 15+ years.

What's the opinion on that Toshiba laptop? I'm thinking real hard about desktop replacement. Doesn't need to be seriously portable, more like I can use it on the couch or dining room table, then set it aside at dinner time.

I currently have a Sandy Bridge i5 and a Radeon 6850, and I'm relatively satisfied with the performance, this thing seems like it would be at least comparable if not a fair step up?

How's the quality on these? I haven't used a Toshiba laptop for 15+ years.

The GPU is quite similar, but the CPU is probably a fair bit slower due to thermal restraints (depending on which i5 you have).

So what's the better monitor for gaming? The 29" 2560x1080 or the 27" 2560x1440?

I'm thinking the 27"

Two 27" dells of course. That's what I'm running now.

That way you can have your game full screen on one, and the other is available for other stuff - eg in minecraft I have the wiki and a few google searches open. Also handy for twitter or music or whatever.

Two 29" displays wouldn't work... 27 is already pushing the boundary of the far left/right edges being too far away from where you'r sitting.

Lee Hutchinson / Lee is the Senior Reviews Editor at Ars and is responsible for the product news and reviews section. He also knows stuff about enterprise storage, security, and manned space flight. Lee is based in Houston, TX.